Send My Love to Your New Lover (Treat Her Better)
by minachandler
Summary: Set post 4x15. Laurel finds herself dropping some home truths on Oliver about what went wrong between them all those years ago. She sure hopes he won't make the same mistakes again with Felicity.


After they finish eating in the precinct, Quentin and Laurel go to a meeting together. Laurel's unusually quiet (she's only managed to conceal her hurt all this time behind genuine smiles and laughter as she reminisced about Sara with her father) and mostly just listens to what others have to say. Quentin tells the group he's seeing someone, and everyone laughs when he informs them that she's a cocktail waitress because that is a special kind of irony in AA.

When the meeting's over, Quentin looks concerned and clearly wants to talk, but honestly for Laurel there isn't much else she can say. And after all – Laurel knows her father would much rather say "I told you so" than anything else, which is what Laurel deserves, really.

"You going to be okay on your own? Want me to walk you home or anything?"

Laurel shakes her head. "Dad, I'll be fine." Quentin doesn't really look like he believes her, though, and she adds, "I promise. It's just – been a long couple of days, and I'm tired."

She watches as Quentin's shoulders sink a little and he sighs. "All right," he says, before pulling her towards him so he can kiss her forehead. "Love you, sweetheart."

"I love you too," Laurel replies, trying but probably failing to smile.

Sure enough, as soon as she steps outside the precinct, that same hollow feeling that she's managed to keep at bay settles somewhere deep in her stomach. That feeling lingers even as she enters her apartment, but instantly she freezes when she hears Oliver's voice just before opening the door.

"Is everything okay?" she asks instantly when she sees him on her couch opposite Thea. "How's William?"

"He's fine. He and Samantha are both fine."

"You all right?" Thea asks, getting to her feet. She reaches out, touches Laurel's arm.

"Yeah, Speedy, don't worry about me," Laurel says, and somehow she manages to force another smile. It turns out as more of a grimace, though, and Thea clearly seems to notice.

"You know, this whole hero thing has made me kinda hungry. I'm gonna go for Big Belly Burger, give you guys time to talk, okay?" Thea says, giving Laurel's shoulder one last pat before grabbing her jacket and leaving the apartment.

It's only once the door closes, though, that Oliver speaks. Laurel's still on her feet – she feels too edgy to sit down.

"Laurel… I just wanted to say –"

"How's Felicity?" Laurel interrupts. "I hope she got some kind of apology from you now everything's over."

But at her words Oliver closes his eyes, lets out a choked sound that sounds like a scoff. "Everything's over," he repeats. "That's… accurate, I guess."

Laurel just raises her eyebrows questioningly, and Oliver reaches into his pocket and pulls out the ring that has adorned Felicity's left hand for the past month.

"She broke up with you? Or did she just call off the engagement?"

"I'm not sure," Oliver says honestly. "She…" He pauses, and somehow he lets out a faint, incredulous chuckle. "She walked away from me before we could talk about it properly."

And at this Laurel does a double take. "What do you mean she walked away?"

"I mean – the chip worked. She can walk again." And in spite of the forlorn look on Oliver's face, Laurel can also sense a muted kind of relief in him as well.

"That's amazing," Laurel tells him. "Truly. I'm so glad she's back on her feet again. At least that's one surprise I'm happy to hear. It's kind of poetic, really."

"Laurel…"

She sits down, now, opposite him. "What?" she says, folding her arms and looking at him expectantly.

"I'm sorry," Oliver says. "I know… it's too late to say it. Ten years too late."

"Did Tommy know?" she asks abruptly.

Oliver shakes his head. "No. Not about me and Samantha… and definitely not about William. Tommy would never… he would never keep something like that from you."

 _But you would_ , Laurel says silently. Still, his next words surprise her.

" _I_ didn't even know about William. Not until Christmas last year."

"What do you mean?"

For a moment Oliver hesitates. "My mother… back then, I told her what happened. How I'd gotten a girl pregnant behind your back. She was… understanding about it. She said everything was going to be fine. And the very next day, Samantha… she called me. Said she lost the baby and that she was moving back to Central City."

Laurel's horrified. "Why would she say that? Lie about losing her baby –"

"My mother told her to. She offered Samantha a million dollars to get her to leave Starling City."

That doesn't sound much like the Samantha Laurel remembers from college. "She never did strike me as a gold-digger," Laurel says.

"She never cashed it," Oliver explains. "But she did as my mother asked and honestly I never thought I'd see her again."

"But you did. In Central City at Christmas when we were helping Barry with..." Laurel trails off, because at her own words something clicks in Laurel's head. "Wait. A few weeks ago you told me that Barry travelled through time when we defeated Vandal Savage. And that you changed the timeline knowing what happened the first time round. Are you saying…" Laurel shakes her head, and suddenly it becomes too much for her. She gets to her feet once more, turns her back on Oliver. "It makes sense now."

"What does?"

"Keeping it from me – well, it's kind of expected even on a normal day for you, Ollie. But I didn't get why you didn't tell Felicity at first. Thea knew. Barry knew. Malcolm, too. I didn't understand why you didn't tell Felicity."

She hears him sigh resignedly from behind her as he also gets to his feet. "Samantha gave me an ultimatum. She said that if I told anyone about William being my son, including Felicity, she wouldn't let me see him."

Laurel turns around now to face him. "And, what, you thought Felicity Smoak of all people wouldn't be able to keep a secret? You saw Felicity ready to protect your secret even from us in the lair. You know she would never have said anything to anyone."

"Samantha's the mother of my child, Laurel – I had to keep her word."

"And, what, all the other people who knew, they didn't count? You know, like Malcolm Merlyn – the very person who took your son in the first place?"

Oliver shakes his head. "I didn't plan on Malcolm finding out. Or Thea."

"You know what I think? I think that in that other timeline, Barry told you that Felicity didn't take the news very well. Don't get me wrong, Oliver, I'm sure Samantha's ultimatum had a part to play in all of this too – but there was more to it than that. This was about you being scared of losing her."

Of course, of _course_ Oliver dodges the question.

"There were times when I wanted to tell you," he says instead. "But I just – wanted the past to stay in the past. I'm not that person anymore, the person who cheated on his girlfriend because he took her for granted time and time again –"

Laurel wheels about, once again turning away from him, and it's hard to fight the anger flaring up inside her as she clenches her fists and attempts to meet his eyes. "You keep saying that. Remember – just before the Undertaking, you came here, and you told me that that island took away all of the things you weren't and revealed who you really were. The person, you said, that I always saw." There's an uncomfortable pause and they look away from each other for a moment, the burn of that betrayal of their best friend still there, even after all this time. "But you were wrong, Oliver. Sure, maybe that island did take away the worst parts of you. But I wish I saw all the things you were instead of being blind to them. Instead of being deluded into the idea that we were actually in _love_."

"I'm sorry," he says again, and his tone is helpless. "For what it's worth… we were. At one point in our lives – before I screwed things up between us –"

"Literally," Laurel can't help but add bitterly, and to her surprise Oliver pauses to nod in agreement.

"You're right. But when we were younger, much younger, I did. Before all the cheating and the lies. And when I first got back from the island, I wanted to make things right. With you. With everything."

"Ollie, if that were true, you would have told me about Samantha. You would have come clean to me about her and – anyone else." Oliver opens his mouth to speak, but Laurel holds up her hand. "You don't need to tell me there were others. I figured out that much on my own after today. But that – that's not important now. Because I realised a long time ago that I deserved someone who treated me better. And I had hoped – with my sister, and with Felicity, two of the most important people in my life – that you would treat them better."

Oliver's shoulders are slumped now as he sits back down on the couch, and it occurs to Laurel as she reluctantly sits opposite him that they've never properly had this conversation. Truth be told, it's been a long time coming.

"I tried," Oliver said. "You even helped me with that – me and Sara. When I tried to push her away you just pushed me in her direction more. Which is more than I deserve, I know, after everything we put you through."

"No, you deserve to be happy," Laurel says, and she means it. Even now, when she's more upset with him than she has been in years – she means it. "With Sara, with Felicity. But when that happiness is based on you lying, you're right back where you started. With me, here, when you got back with me _knowing_ that you were still keeping secrets from me – secrets I deserved to know.

"And the truth is, Ollie, you can't honestly tell me that you didn't keep so much from me, from Felicity, God, even John and Thea – entirely because you wanted to protect them. You haven't pushed people away for as long as you have just to protect them. That's part of it, sure, but it's been to protect yourself, too."

"Laurel –"

"I get that you're trying. I get that you're sorry. But what you need to realise is that that island didn't make you a completely different person. You're still who you were before the island. You still do things you shouldn't. Like promising to commit yourself to someone _knowing_ you're keeping something from them – and I'm not saying you don't love her, Ollie, because I know you do. God help me, I get why you do. But you can't honestly tell me that you expected Felicity to agree to marry you knowing you lied to her all this time."

"I don't know what I expected," Oliver admits. "And I was scared of losing her. And now I have."

"You should give her some space," Laurel says. "And, I don't know. Maybe spend a bit of time with your son now you know he's safe."

But at this Laurel watches as Oliver's gaze drops to his feet.

"I… uh, can't do that. I told Samantha that they should move. Far away from me and my enemies. I don't even know where they're going."

Laurel sighs in disbelief. "So your son won't ever know who you are? Who you really are?"

"He will when he's eighteen," Oliver says heavily. "But I wanted him to have his childhood. I didn't want that to be ruined by – everything in my life that could hurt him."

Truthfully Laurel wants to tell him that that is yet another decision that probably wasn't the best one to make – but she's had enough of arguing with him. And however angry she is at him, Laurel's never been one to kick someone while they're down.

"He's your son," Laurel says. "And I'm sure you've done what you think is best for him."

"I know it probably doesn't mean much now but I'm sorry, Laurel," Oliver says. "For everything. For… taking you for granted all the times that I did when we were together – you're right. You deserved better then and you deserve better now. But – for what it's worth, my son is safe and alive and you helped save him. So thank you."

"He's a good kid," Laurel says, and her tone is noticeably less icy now. "I sat in while he was making a statement. He… seems to be a big fan of the Green Arrow."

Oliver chuckles, the beginnings of a smile on his face for the first time. "He told me he's always wanted a Green Arrow action figure, but that his mom wanted him to have a role model who didn't shoot people."

"When did he tell you this?" Laurel asks, raising her eyebrows.

"The… first time I met him, actually. In Central City. I remember when we came back, and Felicity asked me why I had been acting so strange while we were over there. And I told her it was nothing, that it – didn't matter, but all I wanted to do was tell her everything about my son – the fact that he loves baseball, his favourite music, the way he smiles… and I could have, but I didn't, because all I could think about was what would happen to me if I lost either of them by telling her the truth. And now I've lost them both."

Part of her is tempted to punch the lost expression of his face. "Not necessarily for good."

"What do you mean?"

"Felicity. She loves you," Laurel says simply. "That much is obvious. And you love her. You've just got to realise that when you ask someone to spend the rest of their life with you, that means trusting them. Letting them support you. And until you're ready to do that with Felicity, you should probably keep a bit of distance."

Oliver nods, closing his eyes for a moment. "What about you?"

"What about me?" she says, confused.

"I… know you're angry with me. I wouldn't blame you if –"

"My city needs me, Oliver," Laurel says firmly. "I'm not going to stop protecting it because of something you did ten years ago."

Oliver gets to his feet, seeming to recognise this as his cue to leave. Laurel folds her arms and stands up too, staying where she is at the couch as she watches Oliver make to leave. He turns back, though, when she speaks.

"Treat her better, Ollie. She deserves better."


End file.
